Island Princess Review

4.0 / 5.0
1,228 reviews

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Review for Alaska Cruise on Island Princess
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kwloftis
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Jun 2014

My wife and I decided to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary by taking a seven day Alaskan cruise on the Island Princess departing Whittier, Alaska on June 25th. After reading several CC reviews we made the decision to book our own port transfers from Anchorage to Whittier directly with the Alaska Railroad. Checking our luggage to the ship was easy with porters at the train station, so the next time we saw our luggage in was in our state room after boarding. The check in process was extremely easy, from the time we showed them our boarding information to boarding the ships was only about 10 minutes. After getting on the ship we found our way to the room and the luggage showed up shortly after our arrival. The weather conditions were cold and rainy, but when Whittier is one of the rainiest ports on the cruise what can you expect.

We ate breakfast and lunch most days at the Horizon Court because it convenience and the food quality was good. My wife is a soup and salad person and I like the taste of a good Asian curry or stir fry if it’s available. One of the breakfast items we has which was outstanding was the mini quiche that are prepared and ready for the early risers. The wait staff in the Horizon Court, in most cases, were friendly, unless you wanted something out of the ordinary. We chose to purchase the All You Can Drink Pass (~$49 /day/person) that allowed us to drink anything we wanted under $10. On average a coffee was $2.75-$3.00, a beer was $4.00-5.00 and a Martini was $8.50 - 9.00, so depending on what you drink it may or may not make sense to purchase the pass.

Prior to departing, I pre-booked a couples massage which was changed by the SPA to a time that wasn't convenient and when we tried to reschedule the receptionist became very rude. My wife inquired about getting her hair blow dried for our anniversary and the receptionist asked "Do you want it washed?" which totally caught us off guard. After this incident, we cancelled our spa reservations and chose to save our money and do something else, which we found later that day. One of the employees in the Sanctuary approached us while having lunch to let us know about a special they were running for our day in Glacier Bay. They were offering a package that included specialty drinks, lunch, photos, and a reserved chase lounge or cabana for only $60 per person which was probably one of the best activities we did on the ship. Princess normally gets $20 for a half day and $40 for the full day. The staff in the Sanctuary was outstanding. Marvin and Milos two of the staff members made our day, a very special occasion.

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